Popular Clothing Brands

Paris-Roubaix for Recreational Riders

Brooke Tully
April 15, 2014

Loading Facebook Like button...

We love a good video package to get us pumped, and this one from BMC certainly does the trick. Is it just us, or did anyone suddenly get inspired to batter a few cobblestones and get down and dirty at Paris-Roubaix?

Not too many of us would be able to handle the terrain quite like Thor Hushovd from BMC Racing, but getting hold of a BMC Granfondo would a) make us feel like we were and b) give us a serious advantage when it comes to road riding through some pretty gruelling landscapes.

Aside from BMC Racing, the BMC GF01 – 2013 is a bike for recreational riders who are up for a challenge. Be it jagged surfaces, tight descents, undulating paths – the BMC GF01 delivers compliance and stability – exactly what you need to keep you going over long distances with surprises along the way.

Easy to use – you don’t christen a bike Granfondo unless it can go the distance, and do so with maximum ease. BMC’s GF01 is certainly designed to carve up the kilometres – thousands of them. An integrated chain catcher, huge durable tyres (28mm versus the more traditional 23mm) and fuss-free components (including Ultegra Di2 groupset) has this bike just itching for some serious stretches, without having you mentally click over every kilometre (is that finishing line here yet?) as you go.

Sturdiness – this comes into play via the ‘beefy’ headtube, downtube, chainstays and fork crown, which create a really sturdy machine that is going to stay on track and do what you want it to do/ go where you want it to go.

Vertical compliance – as Thor says; to handle those cobbles you need a bike that’s stiff, but not too stiff or you’ll jump all over the place. The solution? Keep the bike in greater contact with the surface, as more traction delivers more compliance. This is achieved by BMC’s TCC, or
Tuned Compliance Concept, which appears to have had its fair share of beefing up as well. According to the good folk at BMC, the GF01 now absorbs a wider range of hits and vibrations than their golden child, the teammachine SLR01. That’s quite a pipping of the post! The big winner here of course being the rider – the more compliant a bike, the less energy used by the handler, and therefore the more they have in the tank to get them further; granfondo style, really.

OK so we’re not all Thor Hushovd, and we don’t all have Paris-Roubaix as our default stomping ground, but Gran Fondos are only getting bigger and bikes like the BMC GF01 are going to be carrying more and more over the line…